Friday 30 December 2011

The City- My idea for three images

My Idea
My final idea for the three photographs for 'The City' project is still the same as my initial idea which is too capture the modernisation of urban areas at night time. The idea for capturing the city at night came from researching the photographer Brassai for the pastiche part of this project. Brassai's 'Paris by night' series captures the nocturnal side of the city, I became interested in creating a different view of the city too how it normally looks during the day and how people usually view it. I was inspired by the way Brassai uses light from, street lamps, shop signs and windows to illuminate the locations he has photographed as it represent modernity of the city. Photographer Robert Vizinni inspired me to capture tall buildings using a low camera angle to symbolise the modernisation of the city and how its always evolving. By looking up at a building emphasises the scale of it and will represent the way the city has grown and is constantly expanding. Another photographer who inspired me for this project is Ori Gersht, in his images of architecture he captures repetition and symmetry in the way he has composed his photo and with the buildings he has chosen. Gersht's images have a very formalistic feel because of the repetition which gives them a modern feel, to capture the same effect in my images I'm going to photograph buildings that have repetitive windows and look symmetrical. By photographing an urban environment in a formal way symbolises how controlled the city is and how it is very structured. To emphasise the formal feel I am going to use black and white film with ISO 400 to create a softness in the image so there is no harsh shadows. One of the main inspirations for this project is the photographer Michael Kenna who I looked at below:

Michael  Kenna
Michael Kenna is a night time photographer who is inspired by mans influence on the land. His black and white photographs of the city capture’s areas of the city that are usually overlooked as they are above street level. Kenna photographs familiar locations and subjects such as sky scrapers and the Eiffel Tower and makes them appear very intriguing and different . He photographs his subjects in a different way which transforms our view of the world, Michael Kenna uses different camera techniques such as camera angles and different lenses to do this. By using a low camera angle emphasises the scale of the buildings and makes you feel very vulnerable as a viewer because of how they tower over you. Kenna’s images have a very haunting feel because of how they make you feel insignificant in comparison to the buildings because of there height. He often photographs more then one building in the same picture which makes you feel as if you are trapped and as if you are there in the city between the towering buildings.




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